Triumph of the Shill

Barack Obama got a lot of criticism for thinking about giving a major address at the Brandenburg Gate, so he decided on a new venue. But it looks like he didn't vet the new location very well, either. The new location for Barack Star's European Tour is the Siegessäule monument in the heart of Berlin. I've posted a picture of it. It's a majestic monument and certainly phallic enough to send another thrill up Chris Matthews's leg. But there's a problem, as Der Spiegel points out:

Still, even as the issue of his speech's location has now been settled, a number of politicians in Berlin are still dissatisfied with the site. The Siegessäule -- or Victory Column -- was erected in memory of Prussia's victories
over Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870/71). The column originally
stood in front of the Reichstag, Germany's parliament building, but was moved by
Adolf Hitler to its current location in 1939 to make way for his planned transformation of Berlin into the Nazi capital "Germania."

"The Siegessäule in Berlin was moved to where it is now by Adolf Hitler. He
saw it as a symbol of German superiority and of the victorious wars against
Denmark, Austria and France," the deputy leader of the Free Democrats, Rainer
Brüderle, told Bild am Sonntag. He raised the question as to "whether Barack
Obama was advised correctly in his choice of the Siegessäule as the site to hold
a speech on his vision for a more cooperative world."

While I understand why the Germans might be a smidge sensitive to such a history, I think the Siegessäule is the perfect place for Obama to hold his rally. It's a symbol of Prussian triumphalism and there isn't a candidate around who is as triumphal as the man who will bring us Change We Can Believe In. He and his wife have promised us that once we have elected this man, our lives will be transformed. He'll certainly be as benevolent as the people this monument memorializes, right? Certainly Bismarck had a vision for a more cooperative Germany; never mind that the cooperation entailed that some of my ancestors serve as cannon fodder in some of the wars that that the Siegessäule commemorates. Fortunately for me, some of the more non-cooperative Bavarians who were able to get over on a boat in the 1850s and settle in Wisconsin included my great-great grandparents.

We should probably start quarrying the marble for something like this, because clearly we'll need something like this on the Capitol Mall once Obama's reign is over.

(H/T: Captain Ed)